Vehicle display device

ABSTRACT

A vehicle display device using a hetero electrochromic film includes: a projector configured to project a predetermined image onto at least one of a windshield and a window of a vehicle; a hetero electrochromic film disposed on at least one of the windshield and the window; and a controller configured to drive the projector and the hetero electrochromic film.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from and the benefit of Korean PatentApplication No. 2018-0144590, filed on Nov. 21, 2018, which is herebyincorporated by reference for all purposes as if set forth herein.

BACKGROUND Field

Exemplary embodiment relates to a vehicle display device, and moreparticularly, to a vehicle display device using a hetero electrochromicfilm.

Discussion of the Background

As research and developments on smart windows formed of glass, in whichlight transmittance can be controlled to prevent energy loss and thelike in buildings, are being carried out, and research on autonomousdriving vehicles is actively being carried out, research is beingconducted to apply the smart windows to the autonomous driving vehicles.

For example, technologies which use windshields for large screendisplays inside vehicles and side glass are being invented, and productconcepts such as transparent light-emitting diodes (LEDs), transparentorganic LEDs, and the like are being proposed but are still notcommercialized due to vehicle environment (temperature and the like) andcost problems.

In addition, although concepts in which electrochromic externalshielding technology is applied to vehicles are proposed, suspendedparticle devices (SPDs) are only applied to substitute for tinting,advertisement using inner projections, and the like, and functionsthereof are very limited.

In this regard, Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2009-0116486 (Title ofInvention: Display Device for Automobile), which relates to a displaydevice for automobiles capable of improving image quality of an image byadjusting optical transmittance of a vehicle windshield on which animage is projected, discloses a technology including an image projectionpart configured to project a predetermined image on a windshield, apolymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) film formed on the windshieldand configured to adjust light transmittance and reflection rate of theimage projected by the image projection part, and a driving partconfigured to drive the image projection part and the PDLC film.

The above information disclosed in this Background section is only forenhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and,therefore, it may contain information that does not constitute priorart.

SUMMARY

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a vehicle displaydevice which simultaneously uses two types of electrochromic films thatare applied to one or more of a windshield and a window to providevarious driving situations and functions through a projection display.

However, technical objectives to be solved through the presentembodiment are not limited the above-described technical objective, andother technical objectives may present.

According to one or more exemplary embodiments of the inventions, avehicle display device using a hetero electrochromic film includes: aprojector configured to project a predetermined image onto at least oneof a windshield and a window of a vehicle; a hetero electrochromic filmdisposed on at least one of the windshield and the window; and acontroller configured to drive the projector and the heteroelectrochromic film.

The hetero electrochromic film may include: a suspended particle device(SPD) film; and a polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) film.

The SPD film may be disposed on at least one of the windshield and thewindow, and the PDLC film may be disposed on the SPD film.

The projector may be installed inside of the vehicle, the projector maybe configured to project an image onto a surface side of the PDLC film,and the controller may be configured to control transparency of thesurface side of the PDLC film.

The controller may be configured to: drive the projector to project animage onto the surface side of the PDLC film in response to the PDLCfilm being controlled in an opaque mode; and lower transparency of theSPD film to shield external light.

A size of a particle in at least one of the SPD film and PDLC film maybe controlled to control an internal depth to integrally form the SPDfilm and the PDLC film as an single layer.

The controller may be configured to: drive at least one power sources ofthe windshield and the window; and control transparency of the heteroelectrochromic film according to a vehicle driving mode.

In response to the vehicle driving mode being an autonomous drivingmode, the controller may be configured to control at least one of thewindshield and the window to be opaque, and wherein in response to thevehicle driving mode being a manual driving mode, the controller may beconfigured to control the windshield and the window to be transparent.

In response to the vehicle driving mode being the autonomous drivingmode, the controller may be configured to: cut off a power source of theSPD film of the hetero electrochromic film to drive the SPD film to havean opaque black color; and cut off a power source of the PDLC film todrive the PDLC film to have an opaque white color.

In response to the vehicle driving mode being the manual driving mode,the controller may be configured to: supply power to the SPD film of thehetero electrochromic film to drive the SPD film to be transparent; andsupply power to the PDLC film to control the PDLC film to betransparent.

In the SPD film and the PDLC film may be separately disposed onto thewindshield and the window; and wherein the controller is, in response tothe vehicle being in the manual driving mode, configured to: control thetransparency of at least one partial region of the windshield and thewindow; and display a driving information window onto the at least onepartial region using the projector.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and areintended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

FIG. 1 is a view for describing a polymer dispersed liquid crystal(PDLC) film and a suspended particle device (SPD) film;

FIG. 2 is a view for describing a vehicle display device according toone embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a view for describing a control case in an autonomous drivingmode;

FIG. 4 is a view for describing a control case in a manual driving mode;and

FIGS. 5A and 5B are views for describing a case of divided applications.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The invention is described more fully hereinafter with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown.This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms andshould not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein.Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure isthorough, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to thoseskilled in the art. Like reference numerals in the drawings denote likeelements.

When a certain part “includes” a certain component throughout thespecification, this does not exclude other components unless explicitlydescribed otherwise, and other components may further be included. Itwill be understood that for purposes of this disclosure, “at least oneof X, Y, and Z” can be construed as X only, Y only, Z only, or anycombination of two or more items X, Y, and Z (e.g., XYZ, XYY, YZ, ZZ).Unless particularly described to the contrary, the term “comprise”,“configure”, “have”, or the like, which are described herein, will beunderstood to imply the inclusion of the stated components, andtherefore should be construed as including other components, and not theexclusion of any other elements.

The present invention relates to a vehicle display device 100 using ahetero electrochromic film 110.

In the vehicle display device 100 according to one embodiment of thepresent invention, the hetero electrochromic film 110 is applied to oneor more of a windshield and a window 10. Here, in one embodiment of thepresent invention, a suspended particle device (SPD) film 111 and apolymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) film 112 are simultaneouslyapplied to the hetero electrochromic film 110.

Hereinafter, the PDLC film 112 and the SPD film 111 will be describedwith reference to FIG. 1, and the vehicle display device 100 to whichthe SPD film 111 and the PDLC film 112 are simultaneously applied willbe described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 5B.

FIGS. 1 is a view for describing the PDLC film 112 and the SPD film 111.

The PDLC film 112 is a film which changes to have an opaque white colorwhen electricity is applied thereto and is typically used to decorate aconference room or an interior for a private space. However, it isdifficult to variably dim the PDLC film 112, and thus the PDLC film 112is typically operated using an on/off method.

In addition, in a case in which a beam projection is provided, the PDLCfilm 112 may also be used as a projection screen. For example, in a casein which the beam projection projects an image on an inner side of abuilding as illustrated in FIG. 1, a person located outside the buildingcan see the projected image.

Accordingly, the PDLC film 112 may be operated in a transparent modeduring daytime so that the person located outside the building may seeproducts disposed in a shop in the building, and the PDLC film 112 maybe operated in an opaque mode during nighttime and a projection imagemay be projected thereon so that the PDLC film 112 may be used as abillboard.

As described above, the PDLC film 112 may be used in the transparentmode or the opaque mode according to a power source being turned on oroff, and in the case of the opaque mode, the projection image may beprojected on the PDLC film 112.

In addition, the PDLC film 112 has an advantage in that, even in thecase of nighttime with little light, the PDLC film 112 can be used as anexternal billboard through the opaque mode and by projecting aprojection image thereon.

Brightness of the SPD film 111 is freely changed (variable dimming)according to a voltage level, and the SPD film 111 has a characteristicof having a short operating time. In addition, since the SPD film 111may be applied in any shape, the SPD film 111 may be variously appliedto glass of a building, a vehicle, a plane, a vessel, or the like.

For example, the SPD film 111 may be applied to a vehicle window, and inthis case, the SPD film 111 may be used for ultraviolet tinting.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the PDLC film 112 and theSPD film 111 may be simultaneously applied to provide various drivingsituations such as an autonomous driving mode or a manual driving mode,various driving modes for a driver or passenger, and image content.

FIG. 2 is a view for describing the vehicle display device 100 accordingto one embodiment of the present invention.

The vehicle display device 100 according to one embodiment of thepresent invention includes the hetero electrochromic film 110, aprojection part 120, and a driving part 130.

The projection part 120 projects a predetermined image on one or more ofthe windshield and window 10. Here, in one embodiment of the presentinvention, the projection part 120 is installed in an inner region of avehicle.

The hetero electrochromic film 110 is formed on one or more of thewindshield and window 10 and is formed of the PDLC film 112 and the SPDfilm 111 being simultaneously applied thereto.

Here, the SPD film 111 is formed on the windshield and window 10, andthe PDLC film 112 is formed on the SPD film 111. That is, the SPD film111 is formed between the windshield or window 10 and the PDLC film 112.

Depth of the PDLC film 112 may be adjusted like a projection board. Aspower is applied thereto, a transmittance of the PDLC film 112increases. In a case in which a power source is turned off, the PDLCfilm 112 has an opaque color like a diluted white color. In theembodiment of the present invention, the PDLC film 112 may have a whitebase color.

Generally, the PDLC film 112 has a structure of rear display form inwhich the PDLC film 112 is located between the projection part and aperson so that the person located at a opposite side of the projectionpart can see an image. This is an advantageous structure from aviewpoint of image quality (clarity or visibility) and matches with adisplay concept of an external advertisement.

However, in the case of the vehicle, the projection part 120 cannot beinstalled outside the vehicle to display a projection image on thewindshield or window 10 for a person who watches the displayed imageoutside. That is, in the case in which the projection part 120 isinstalled outside the vehicle, it may be impossible or not proper tosecure an image due to foreign matter such as dusts and rain.

Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention, the projectionpart is installed in an interior of the vehicle, and a transparency of asurface side, on which an image is projected by the projection part 120,of PDLC film 112 may be controlled by the driving part 130.

That is, to secure clarity or visibility of the projected image on aregion of the windshield or window 10, in one embodiment of the presentinvention, the PDLC film 112 which may display an opaque white color isprovided in the interior of the vehicle to form a basic structure for aprojection image since the highest image quality may be obtained underconditions in which the projection part 120 is provided in the interiorof the vehicle and the surface of the side, on which the image isprojected, has an opaque white color.

As described above, the SPD film 111 may adjust shade and shadow like atinting film. When power is applied thereto, transmittance increases,and in a case in which the power source is turned off, the SPD film 111displays a dark opaque color. In the embodiment of the presentinvention, the SPD film 111 may have a dark black base color.

The SPD film 111 is formed between the PDLC film 112 and the windshieldor window 10. That is, when only the opaque white PDLC film 112 isprovided on the windshield or window 10, image quality is not perfectlysecured through the projection part 120.

That is, when a region of the windshield or window 10 which is in anopaque white state becomes bright due to external light, a problemoccurs in that an image is faintly seen when being projected.

Accordingly, in order to shield external light, when a tinting treatmentis performed on the windshield or window 10, the problem may be reducedslightly, but it is not sufficient to perfectly shield the externallight, and an additional treatment of providing a transparent reflectivefilm or the like capable of shielding the external light may need to beperformed.

However, in this case, when electricity is applied to the PDLC film 112such that the PDLC film 112 becomes transparent for manual driving, anexternal transmittance decreases significantly, and thus it is difficultto drive manually.

In order to solve two such problems, a structure capable of shieldingexternal light and securing transmittance is required.

To this end, in one embodiment of the present invention, the SPD film111 is formed between the PDLC film 112 capable of adjusting shade andshadow and the windshield or window 10, the PDLC film 112 is controlledto be in an opaque mode because the driving part 130 drives theprojection part 120 to project an image, and transparency of the SPDfilm 111 is controlled to be lowered so as to shield external light.

That is, when the windshield or window 10 is used as a display, depth ofthe SPD film 111 may be increased to shield external light such that aninner side thereof maintains a white surface, and thus a projectionimage can be seen, electricity may be applied such that a region of thePDLC film 112 becomes transparent and the SPD film 111 disposedtherebetween also becomes transparent for manual driving, and thustransmittance for the manual driving can be secured.

The driving part 130 drives the projection part 120 and the heteroelectrochromic film 110.

Here, the driving part 130 may separately drive the projection part 120and the hetero electrochromic film 110 according to a vehicle drivingmode by driving one or more power sources of the windshield and window10 or controlling transparency thereof.

FIG. 3 is a view for describing a control case in the autonomous drivingmode, and FIG. 4 is a view for describing a control case in the manualdriving mode.

For example, in a case in which a vehicle driving mode is the autonomousdriving mode, as described in FIG. 3, the driving part 130 controls thewindshield or window 10 to have an opaque white color, and thus thewindshield or window 10 can be used as a large screen display region.

That is, the driving part 130 may cut off power of the SPD film 111 ofthe hetero electrochromic film 110 such that the SPD film 111 has anopaque shield color and cut off power of the PDLC film 112 such that thePDLC film 112 has an opaque white color in the autonomous driving mode.

In this case, an entire region of the windshield or window 10 iscontrolled to be opaque so that a projection image can be seen.

In addition, in a case in which a vehicle driving mode is the manualdriving mode, as described in FIG. 4, the driving part 130 may controlthe windshield or window 10 to be transparent, and thus externalvisibility can be secured and driving is possible.

That is, in the manual driving mode, the driving part 130 may supplypower to the SPD film 111 of the hetero electrochromic film 110 suchthat the SPD film 111 becomes transparent and also supply power to thePDLC film 112 such that the PDLC film 112 becomes transparent.

Meanwhile, the vehicle display device 100 according to one embodiment ofthe present invention may be formed such that the SPD film 111 and thePDLC film 112 of the windshield and window 10 are dividedly applied.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are views for describing a case in which the heteroelectrochromic film 110 is dividedly applied on the windshield or window10.

The driving part 130 controls transparency of only one or more partialregions of the windshield and window 10 such that a driving informationwindow is displayed through the projection part 120 or an imageprojected by the projection part 120 is displayed in the manual drivingmode.

That is, in one embodiment of the present invention, a mixed mode may beperformed in which an application region of the SPD film 111 and anapplication region of the PDLC film 112 are divided, a drivinginformation window or image content are displayed on a partial region ofthe windshield or window 10, and a partial region is controlled to betransparent to secure driving visibility during a manual driving.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 5A, external visibility can besecured by applying power to the SPD film 111 such that the SPD film 111is transparent and also applying power to the PDLC such that thewindshield 10 is transparent.

In this case, power for a partial region of the SPD film 111 may be cutoff such that the partial region is driven in an black opaque mode,power of the PDLC film 112 may be also cut off such the PDLC film 112 isdriven in an white opaque mode, and thus driving information or a sidemirror image can be seen using the projection part 120.

In another example, an infotainment content image may be output on thewindshield 10 of a passenger seat area instead of a driver's seat area.

That is, the SPD film 111 and the PDLC film 112 may be controlled suchthat most of an area of the windshield 10 may be controlled as in themanual driving mode, and the SPD film 111 and the PDLC film 112 may becontrolled such that image content may be output on a partial region ona side of a passenger seat and driving information and a passenger seatimage may be output on a remaining partial region as in the autonomousdriving mode.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the driver orpassenger can really feel various types of content in the vehicle, andnew experiments for a future vehicle can be provided to a user.

In addition, in the vehicle display device 100 according to oneembodiment of the present invention, a voltage, a current, or the likeof electricity applied for improving emotional quality when thewindshield or window 10 is discolored through the electricity appliedmay be adjusted to gradually change transparency and opacity and improveeffect from a viewpoint of a user interface (UI). In addition, in a casein which an immediate change is required according to a driving mode,the immediate change may be performed by turning the power on or off.

Meanwhile, when the above described structure of the windshield orwindow 10 is considered, in a case in which one film structure capableof shielding external light and securing an opaque white color in thefuture is formed, a concept for autonomous driving and manual drivingmay be implemented using a more simple structure.

In addition, in one embodiment of the present invention, a particlesize, by which internal depth is adjusted, of at least one or more ofthe SPD film 111 and the PDLC film 112 may also be adjusted tofacilitate a change between perfect shielding and transparency thereof.

Meanwhile, in one embodiment of the present invention, the driving part130 may include a memory and a processor.

A program for controlling the projection part 120 or each film is storedin the memory, and the processor executes the program stored in thememory. Here, the memory collectively refers to a non-volatile storagedevice, which continuously stores stored information even when power isnot supplied thereto, and a volatile storage device.

For example, the memory may include a NAND flash memory such as acompact flash (CF) card, a secure digital (SD) card, a memory stick, asolid-state drive (SSD), and a micro SD card, a magnetic computerstorage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD), and an optical discdrive such as compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), and (digitalversatile disc-read only memory) DVD-ROM.

For reference, the components illustrated in the drawings according tothe embodiment of the present invention may be formed using software orhardware, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) and anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and serve predeterminedfunctions.

However, the components are not limited to the software or hardware andmay be stored in an addressable storage medium or may reproduce one ormore processors.

Accordingly, as an example, the components include components such assoftware components, object oriented software components, classcomponents, and task components, processors, functions, attributes,procedures, sub-routines, segments of program codes, drivers, firmware,micro codes, circuits, data, databases, data structures, arrays, andvariables.

The components and the functions provided in the components may becoupled to form a smaller number of components or divided to form alarger number of components.

Meanwhile, one embodiment of the present invention may also beimplemented in a computer program executed by a computer and stored in amedium or a recording medium including instructions executable by acomputer. A computer readable medium may be any available mediumaccessible through a computer and includes volatile and non-volatilemedia and removable and non-removable media. In addition, the computerreadable medium may include a computer storage medium and acommunication medium. The computer storage medium includes volatile andnon-volatile media and removable and non-removable media implementedusing any method or technology for storing a computer readableinstruction, a data structure, a program module, or other pieces ofdata. The communication media typically include a computer readableinstruction, a data structure, a program module, other pieces of data ina modulated data signal such as a carrier wave, or another transportmechanism and any information transmission medium.

Although the method and the system of the present invention has beendescribed with reference to the specific embodiment, the components, orsome or all operations thereof may be implemented using a computersystem including a general-purpose hardware architecture.

According to the above-described embodiments, a projection part isinstalled in a vehicle, and a projection image is projected on awindshield or window so that the windshield or window can be utilized asa large screen display.

In addition, in this case, since the SPD film and the PDLC film aresimultaneously used, display image quality such as clarity and feelingof color can be secured, a trend of an in-vehicle infotainment (IVI)technology can be satisfied, and various services and functions can beutilized in a vehicle by dividing a region of the windshield or windowto which electricity is applied.

In addition, since the SPD film and the PDLC film are controlledaccording to an autonomous driving mode or a manual driving mode,various driving modes can be provided to a user.

In addition, the SDP film and the PDLC film can be integrally formedusing a stack-type glass, and quality of a post-processing productmanufacture can be secured through the SPD film and the PDLC film.

The above description is only exemplary, and it will be understood bythose skilled in the art that the invention may be performed in otherconcrete forms without changing the technological scope and essentialfeatures. Therefore, the above-described embodiments should beconsidered as only examples in all aspects and not for purposes oflimitation. For example, each component described as a single type maybe realized in a distributed manner, and similarly, components that aredescribed as being distributed may be realized in a coupled manner.

The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims andencompasses all modifications or alterations derived from meanings, thescope, and equivalents of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A vehicle display device using a heteroelectrochromic film, the vehicle display device comprising: a projectorconfigured to project a predetermined image onto at least one of awindshield and a window of a vehicle; a hetero electrochromic filmdisposed on at least one of the windshield and the window; and acontroller configured to drive the projector and the heteroelectrochromic film.
 2. The vehicle display device of claim 1, whereinthe hetero electrochromic film comprises: a suspended particle device(SPD) film; and a polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) film.
 3. Thevehicle display device of claim 2, wherein the SPD film is disposed onat least one of the windshield and the window, and wherein the PDLC filmis disposed on the SPD film.
 4. The vehicle display device of claim 3,wherein the projector is installed inside of the vehicle, wherein theprojector is configured to project an image onto a surface side of thePDLC film, and wherein the controller is configured to controltransparency of the surface side of the PDLC film.
 5. The vehicledisplay device of claim 4, wherein the controller is configured to:drive the projector to project an image onto the surface side of thePDLC film in response to the PDLC film being controlled in an opaquemode; and lower transparency of the SPD film to shield external light.6. The vehicle display device of claim 2, wherein a size of a particlein at least one of the SPD film and PDLC film is controlled to controlan internal depth to integrally form the SPD film and the PDLC film asan single layer.
 7. The vehicle display device of claim 1, wherein thecontroller is configured to: drive at least one power sources of thewindshield and the window; and control transparency of the heteroelectrochromic film according to a vehicle driving mode.
 8. The vehicledisplay device of claim 7, wherein, in response to the vehicle drivingmode being an autonomous driving mode, the controller is configured tocontrol at least one of the windshield and the window to be opaque, andwherein in response to the vehicle driving mode being a manual drivingmode, the controller is configured to control the windshield and thewindow to be transparent.
 9. The vehicle display device of claim 8,wherein, in response to the vehicle driving mode being the autonomousdriving mode, the controller is configured to: cut off a power source ofthe SPD film of the hetero electrochromic film to drive the SPD film tohave an opaque black color; and cut off a power source of the PDLC filmto drive the PDLC film to have an opaque white color.
 10. The vehicledisplay device of claim 8, wherein, in response to the vehicle drivingmode being the manual driving mode, the controller is configured to:supply power to the SPD film of the hetero electrochromic film to drivethe SPD film to be transparent; and supply power to the PDLC film tocontrol the PDLC film to be transparent.
 11. The vehicle display deviceof claim 8, wherein the SPD film and the PDLC film are separatelydisposed onto the windshield and the window; and wherein the controlleris, in response to the vehicle being in the manual driving mode,configured to: control the transparency of at least one partial regionof the windshield and the window; and display a driving informationwindow onto the at least one partial region using the projector.